Brand New Me
by LiveLaughLurve3
Summary: When Mr. Schue leaves Glee to take care of his family Rachel gets fed up and leaves town for a boarding school in NYC. Now a year later she comes back with a new look, a new name, and a new personality and people notice. AU. Rating may change.
1. Legs Up toHere!

_Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy._

Brand New Me

Chapter One: Second First Day…

Rachel leaned her head against the seat of her '69 purple Camaro, staring listlessly up at the large brick building in front of her. Luckily she found herself arriving right when classes were starting so she'd have a little more time to figure everything out but she was finding that it was doing little to ease her worries. Every time she'd think she had calmed herself enough to face walking in there she'd flash back to all of the terrible memories she had of this place from the last time she went here. The mocking, the lewd nicknames, that disgusting drawings in the bathrooms and worst of all the slushie facials. She couldn't take it anymore so when Mr. Shue, the director of the glee club's wife got pregnant and he left to become an accountant or something equally boring and unfulfilling she decided she didn't have any reason to stay. She didn't tell anyone she was leaving; she didn't have anyone to tell. Instead she just transferred to a boarding school in New York within a week, swearing to herself she would never walk back through the doors of William McKinley High School and subject herself to the hell she used to find there every day ever again.

But here she was, sitting in her car and trying to get up the nerve to walk in there and show them all what Rachel Berry is really made of. Not that she looked like the Rachel Berry they knew, or at least thought they knew. No, New York had changed her outlook on things. She made real, honest to god friends for the first time and they helped her break out of her shell and act…well _normal._ Taking one last deep breath Rachel climbed out of her car. Sliding her black messenger bag on her shoulder and slamming her door, Rachel made her way across the parking lot before taking a deep breath and going through the doors of William McKinley with her head held high and though the school day had technically already started there were still plenty of kids, mostly jocks, still milling in the hall who got the first glimpses of the new girl as she made her way into the office.

"Yo Puck!" Puck turned from where he was having a lovely make-out session with some sophomore Cheerio, whose name he didn't remember and didn't really care if he figured out, to see Mike and Matt making their way up to him with idiotic matching grins. It was obvious something was going on, which was the only reason he didn't just tell them to screw off, because really he may not know her name but that didn't mean that he wanted to cut his make-out session short to talk, even if they were his boys. Instead he gave…what's her name a small tap on the ass he turned to his friends who for their part didn't even let him get a word in.

"Did you see her man?" Mike was practically jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store who'd spit out his Ritalin when his mom wasn't watching and Puck merely raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"New girl man. Sexy as hell and legs up to like…here!" Matt explained to his friend, holding his hand up at chest level.

"Where?" Puck's tone was nonchalant but he was actually quite curious about this new girl. He'd been with practically half the school, the hot half of course, and he was honestly getting bored. His lifestyle was much more exciting when there's some kind of chase, and a new girl would provide him with just that.

Before either of the two boys had a chance to answer him Rachel walked out of the office, schedule in hand and Matt slapped Puck on the back and pointing to her retreating figure, "Right. There."

"Damn, I'll give you one thing, if the front's half as good as the back…" Puck trailed off and instead just let out a low whistle.

"Believe me man…it is." Nodding his head Puck flexed his biceps a few times to get himself pumped and merely nodded at his friends walking away throwing a "Later guys," over his shoulder.

Meanwhile Rachel had made her way to the locker she'd been assigned, surprisingly right next to her old locker, and was quickly turning the dial on the lock when Puck approached her quietly from behind. Puck quickly took in her grey skinny jeans that hung low on her hips revealing a small strip of her flat stomach between her waistband and the bottom of her teal and black tie-dyed tank top before she noticed he was standing there. She wore a black vest that pushed her chest up and had had turquoise sunglasses perched in her wavy chocolate hair. But most of all, Puck was happy to realize that the guys were right. This girl most definitely had legs for days, despite only being a head or so taller than his little sister, and her legs looked even longer because of her teal stilettos.

Puck took his time to appreciate the view before he made a move. She had the earbuds for her iPod in so she was complete oblivious to him and after a few minutes he pulled out one of her earbuds; getting so close to her that he was practically whispering in her ear. "Hey there sexy. What's your name?"

"Seriously? That's the best pick-up line you can come up with?" She raised one eyebrow in his direction before slamming her locker closed and spinning on her very pointy heal and smirking in his direction before walking off, "Believe me, if you want to try and make any kind of impression, other than my laughing at how pathetic you sound, you might want to try harder than that."

"I don't give up that easy. See you later mystery girl."

"Mystery girl? I think I like that." She called over her shoulder without even turning around. He couldn't see it with her back turned to him but Rachel was slightly worried she was going to lose it. Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, one of her biggest former tormentors just blatantly hit on her. But what was really weird was that she kind of liked it. She had run through plenty of scenarios for what would happen when she ran into the people who used to make her life hell. She had worried for a while that they would recognize her, that they would throw slushies on her for being the new girl, that things would go back to the way they were before she left. She'd run through hundreds of situations but she'd never in her life thought that this would happen. The biggest player, and subsequently the hottest guy in school, was hitting on her.

Shaking off that thought and taking a deep breath Rachel knocked on the door to her new homeroom class and was surprised to see that her teacher was Mr. Shue, the glee director who left before she transferred schools. What was he doing here?

"Come on in," He didn't even look up from whatever he was doing at his desk so she walked over to him trying not to feel self conscious that everyone in the classroom was staring at her.

"Uh Mr. Schuester? I'm new…my name's Ray." Most of her friends in New York called her Ray or Ray-Ray and it just came naturally to introduce herself that way. Plus it helped keep her true identity a bit of a secret; for a while at least.

"Oh right E—Ms. Pillsbury told me you were coming." Rachel tried not to giggle at his almost calling their guidance counselor by her first name. She'd always thought there was a bit of a sexual tension between them and apparently she might have been right. Mr. Shue turned to address the class, most of who were out right staring at everything that was happening, "Class this is Ray. She just transferred here from a boarding school in New York City. I'm sure you'll all make her feel very welcome here at William McKinley. Ray would you like to tell the class a little bit about yourself?"

The old Rachel would've jumped into a monologue about herself and her dreams full of five dollar words but the new Rachel just gave a half shrug, "You pretty much covered the basics. I was going to a school for the performing arts in New York and…yeah."

"Alright then. Just take any open seat Rachel, homeroom is almost over."

Sliding into an open seat near the windows in the back of the room Rachel let out a long breath. So far so good, if only it weren't only eight thirty.

Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts by an effeminate voice coming from the seat next to her, "O-M-Gucci I love your shoes! Where'd you get them?"

"Oh these? My friend from New York's Aunt does the make-up for a bunch of the major fashion shows and she scored these for me."

"Will you adopt me?" Kurt asked her without missing a beat and looking up at her with big puppy dog eyes that had Rachel giggling despite herself.

"Yeah sure, why not? My dads would definitely love to have a son. I'm Ray, your new sister."

Kurt's eyes lit up noticeably, "Dads? Like, more than one?"

Rachel shifted uncomfortably at the question. She'd never once been embarrassed about having gay fathers. In fact, she'd always been proud of where she came from but she knew that a lot of people had issues with it. When she was in New York most people were totally accepting of the fact that she had gay dads but in this small town in Ohio it wasn't strange for her to get scathing looks if on rate occasion she was out with both of them or for her to hear whispered insults in the grocery store and she'd lived in Lima her whole life so it wasn't as though it was new gossip. People were small minded and for the most part Rachel felt like that was there problem but this was the first time she was going to have to introduce her background to a place as small minded as Lima. There was nothing she could do if someone wanted to be ignorant though and she wasn't ashamed of where she came from.

And yet still she was worried that her having gay fathers might make it difficult for her to make friends and she didn't want that. Either way she wasn't going to hide where she came from, "Yeah. I have two dads." She tried to sound completely normal and confident about it but there was still a tiny nagging piece of her that was worried this would cause issues.

"Oh my gosh you're so lucky. I'd totally kill to have gay dads. It'd make my whole life so much easier!" Rachel giggled at his outburst and raised her eyebrow at him, urging him to continue, "My mom died when I was eight so it's just been my dad and I since. I love him like crazy and I've known who I was for as long as I can remember but I just recently came out to being gay and it's just hard you know? He's doing his best but I know he's having a hard time dealing with it."

Rachel drew in a breath, realizing that things seemed to be on the right track where friendship was concerned, "That's really gotta be tough. If you want you can always talk to my dads, and I'm sure they'd be more than willing to talk to your dad; try and help him out a little bit."

He looked up at her with moist eyes of gratitude, "You're really sweet." His voice was quiet and it was obvious that things with his father were really tough for him but he quickly shook it off and in no time he was back to his normal self, "Anyways doll I'm such an idiot I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Kurt."

Smiling Rachel stuck her hand out to meet his, "Ray."

They chatted idly as they made their way to their next class.

"Do you sing Ray?"

Rachel had to remember to push down the intense side of herself that used to push people away, "Umm…yeah I was going to a performing arts school. I'm kinda like Coco from Fame, only way less cocky." She felt a bit of pride when Kurt laughed at her Coco joke, this actually seemed like the start of a friendship.

"That's awesome. You totally need to come try out for Glee this afternoon. We don't really have a strong female lead plus we need another person to qualify."

"Yeah that could be fun actually."

Rachel spent the rest of the period being introduced to the "Divalicious Mercedes" and joking around with her and Kurt. As she sat there she couldn't help but think that this might just work.

**A/N- Okay so this is chapter one. I really hope you like it and please, please, please review. Seriously reviews are like crack to me. : ) If there's any suggestions you want to make I'd be happy to consider them, but I don't make any promises about things getting in. Thanks!**


	2. Lunch With The Gleeks

_Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy._

Brand New Me

Chapter Two:

**A/N- **

_**Bloodyblond **_**&**_** Power2Corrupt- **_**I know it's a little unrealistic that no one recognizes Rachel (like I really, really know, I just started going back to school for the first time since November 2008) but the way I see it is that other than as the girl they always picked on Rachel pretty much flew under the radar. She wasn't friends with the gleeks before she left and she's been completely off their radar since she left. None of them would expect her to come back and when she does and she looks completely different and she's got a brand new attitude they have no reason to connect her to herself. You'll find out more about her dad's and why that doesn't really become a tipoff. I addressed the fact that Miss P. knows her in a scene I cut because it didn't flow right but I might try and find a way to add it in so it's easier to understand. Basically she has a meeting with Miss P, who only knows she used to go their because of her records, when she's registering for school and tells her that she goes by Ray and that she doesn't want anyone to judger her before getting to know her so that if she could keep it between them it'd be great. And as for Schue, she would've left right after he said he was leaving so the only time they talked at all is that scene on the bleachers. He only worked with her during Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat and (maybe) You're the One that I Want, so he mostly knows her as the girl with a big voice and bigger dreams but nothing else. Plus, Figgins is cheap so he doesn't provide copies of class lists for new students, just has teachers add them to their class lists etc. Okay so I made that last one up but it kinda makes sense. Don't worry, her secret'll start to come out little by little.**

_**Barbie09**__- _**Don't worry there'll be a Santana/Rachel friendship. It'll start out with Rachel and Britt and then she'll become friends with Santana.**

Puck couldn't get the image of the new girl's ass, or her incredibly long legs out of his mind. She seemed so laid back with her 'Don't-Fuck-With-Me' attitude, which was a polar opposite of Santana whose 'Don't-Fuck-With-Me' attitude just came across bitchy.

It was with these thoughts of her in his mind that Puck made his way into the lunch room, making his way through the lunch line and quickly scanning the cafeteria. He found Matt, Mike, Brittany and Santana sitting at the glee table today, though none of the other gleeks had arrived. Surprisingly he found himself feeling almost happy about this fact. He couldn't believe he them his friends. If someone had told him a year ago that he'd happily be eating lunch with the glee kids; people he used to terrorized, he'd probably have laughed at you before sending you for a dumpster dive.

That is up until last year when he didn't know who to turn to and was feeling as though he didn't have a friend in the world. When all of his supposed friends decided that they didn't care about him anymore and they more or less dropped like flies it was the glee club that was there for him. If he were being honest he'd have to admit that he doesn't know what he would do without them.

"Hey man," Puck slid into a chair between Mike and Brittany, the latter of the two bouncing up and down in her seat, eyes darting back and forth as she spoke randomly to Santana who was obviously trying not to laugh at the unmistakable 'blondness' of Brittany.

"Okay why's Britt acting like Barbie on speed?"

Matt started to open his mouth to answer the question but Brittany cut him off before he could get a single word out, "My new friend's supposed to be here today. She's in a few of my dance classes and she's so, so, so cool. She just moved here from a special school in New York. She used to get to dance and sing and act at school. It sounds so fun. It's like glee but better. She's really pretty too. I'd even make out with her but I don't think she'd go for it. Anyways, I want her to try out for the Cheerios. She'd be really, really goo- RAY!"

Brittany's voice carried through the lunch room and the entire cafeteria went silent, their heads whipping around like they'd planned it, to where Rachel was standing with her head held high despite the fact that all she wanted to do was hide under a rock. Luckily Brittany, who was completely oblivious to the scene she'd caused in the lunch room, jumped up to her feet, running up to Rachel and throwing her arms around her, still bouncing and unknowingly helping to soothe Rachel's nerves with her strangely comforting hug and idle chatter.

Suddenly the cafeteria was abuzz with gossip about the new girl and Brittany was literally dragging Rachel towards the lunch table, Kurt, Tina, Artie and Mercedes trailing behind them.

"Well hello, hello mystery girl." Puck whispered, leaning over as Rachel was squished into the small space between her and Puck, throwing her arm around her shoulders in a friendly hug and squeezing her. He couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face as he saw her shiver slightly as his warm breath caressed her neck.

Rachel was saved from having to say anything when Brittany spoke up, oblivious to the fact that Rachel wanted to throw her arms around her for saving her. "Guys, this is Ray." Brittany's statement had a few of her friends giving her funny looks before Mike suddenly broke the silence, trying to seem nonchalant, "Yeah, um…we know Britt. You've been talking about her all morning."

"Oh. Whatever." Everyone started to introduce themselves and Rachel had to smile at the fact that she felt like she had friends.

Slowly the table turned back towards their normal chatter, no one seeming to notice that both Rachel and Puck seemed a little too aware of the other sitting right next to them. Rachel was just following the conversations going on around her when Brittany turned on her with a sneaky smile, "Hey Ray…"

"What do you want Britt?" She had a knowing look in her eye but her question just seemed to make Brittany's smile grow bigger.

"Okay, so will you please, pretty, pretty please try out for the Cheerios? You'd be so amazing and we really need a new one who actually knows what she's doing." The look on Rachel's face made it obvious that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with trying out for the Cheerios but that she felt bad because it was obviously so important to her friend. "Plus, you'll look super hot in the uniform." Brittany's face was completely serious but the look in her eyes was mischievous.

"Ugh! Fine I'll do it, but you owe me Britt. Big time."

"Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you! You are the best."

"I know, I know." Rachel's voice was sarcastic as she smiled and rolled her eyes, making it obvious that she was joking.

Conversation flowed normally from at that point, everyone joking around and getting to know Ray in a way they never tried to get to know Rachel. The only one not caught up in conversation was Puck, too caught up in imagining Ray in a Cheerios uniform, (and out of a Cheerios uniform, and in his football jersey, and…well you get it.) a fact which didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the table.

**A/N- Yay! Chapter two! Okay so I know I suck and it was short but I promise this is just a filler chapter and the next one will be longer. I've already started writing chapter three (who says school's for learning?) so it shouldn't be long until I can update. **

**Okay so I need everyone to give me a number between 125-200 along with their review. I'll let you know why in the next chapter. **

**LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE- Okay so I was seriously uncomfortable during most of this episode (I mean Shuevester [although Matthew Morrison clenching his butt is not a bad sight] and [ex-] Mrs. Shue hitting on Finn and Quinn's preggo dance? Seriously awkward) but I totally loved it at the same time. I loved when Rachel snapped back at Puck, and how he was the first one to jump to defend her and try and "mess that Jesse kid's face up". Oh and during Loser when Finn was pretending to play guitar on the tiny broom? Seriously he's like 6'3 and you give him the two foot broom?**

**Okay that was my rant. Happy Memorial Day!**


	3. The Art of Slushy Survival

_Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy._

**B R A N D N E W M E**

**A/N- **_**Selema.C **_**– Rachel would've left during the pilot episode or so. In this story Mr. Schue actually goes through with leaving for a little while but when he finds out Terri lied about the baby he comes back and starts up New Directions again. At that point it's too late for them to compete, they don't have enough people anyways, but they still get together to practice and jam and stuff.**

Chapter Three:

Rachel shifted uncomfortably while she waited for Brittany to finish talking to Ms. Sylvester, one of the scariest humans (she was a human right?) alive. She found herself checking the clock and noticing they still had twenty minutes left of their shared study hall before the final bell would ring and they would have to get to glee. She couldn't help but be excited at the thought of performing again.

"Ray!" Ms. Sylvester's voice literally barked through the large gym, making Rachel snap to attention. "Brittany here thinks you're Cheerio material. Now, I was considering giving Preggo her spot back but honestly if I can get myself a great cheerleader who knows the word contraception, and doesn't have all the stretch marks and the baby weight, well than that's all the better. Show me what you've got and I'll try not to choke on my own vomit at how inferior you are to me."

Rachel didn't so much as flinch and she didn't question a word the coach had just said, instead throwing herself into a thoroughly complicated routine that she'd revised from one of her Hip Hop classes in New York. By the time she was finished her chest was heaving and she was preparing herself for the biting remarks that she was sure where about to come out of the "teacher's" (really what does this woman teach except for Fear 101?) mouth. Instead she found herself nearly falling down in surprise when she heard Ms. Sylvester saying "Not half as horrendous as I suspected. Still completely inferior to myself but really, who isn't? You're a midget so you'll fly well. You're in. Don't screw up. Brittany get her what she needs."

Brittany was literally jumping up and down in excitement, dragging Rachel off towards the locker room. "That was so great Ray! I'm so, so, so happy! And now you get to go and try out for glee! Do you know what you're going to sing?"

Rachel merely smiled while she changed, letting Brittany take care of the talking and silently admiring the beauty of her plan and how well it was already working.

XxX

"Okay guys, we've got a new student who's going to be auditioning. I want you all to be a good audience."

Everyone looked to the front of the room where Rachel was sitting holding a purple and teal acoustic guitar, which she started to strum before nodding to the piano guy (who was always just…there). The song started out fairly mellow but by the time she'd gotten to the chorus her voice had grown in strength and the music picked up behind her.

"'_Cause I am barely breathing  
And I can't find the air  
I don't know who I'm kidding  
Imagining you care  
And I could stand here waiting  
A fool for another day  
But I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price  
The price that I would pay" _

As the song went on Rachel got more and more into it, remembering for the billionth time how much she loved to perform and forgetting the fact that eleven of her peers were sitting in front of her watching in amazement as she sang.

As the song ended Rachel finally opened her eyes, looking up at the rest of the people in the room who were watching her in states of shock. It was Kurt who finally broke the awkward (for her at least) silence by throwing himself at her in a hug, jumping up and down in what could've been considered, in her opinion, an amazing imitation of Brittany, who was beaming.

"Oh my god, we totally have a new lead and we're gonna kick Vocal Adrenalin's tightly toned tushies up and down that stage!" Kurt's soprano voice rang out through the room and it seemed to wake everyone out of their dazes, each of them nodding their agreement.

"You are most definitely in Ray!" Brittany beamed as she pulled Rachel into the seat next to her with Puck on the other side. He just smiled at her but before he could get a word out Mr. Shue clapped his hands from the front of the room, "Wow Ray that was great. Okay so we need to teach Ray some of out numbers and work her into them. Let's start with _Don't Stop Believing_, from the top."

XxX

Puck was barely awake as he stumbled into school the next day, having been up and down all night. It was the image of Tina walking down the hallway with Ray who was dressed in a red Cheerio's uniform that truly woke him up (in more ways than one). The short skirt with all the slits in it showed off her long legs even more than her tight jeans had the day before and he almost groaned in satisfaction.

He actually flinched when he saw some jerk from the hockey team douse Tina in slushy, the ice and corn syrup covering her hair and her face, dripping down onto her red shirt. He remembered the feeling of being on either side of that slushy cup, and while he would've always preferred to be the thrower, he'd take twenty slushies in the face before he threw another one. Being either person may suck, but he refused to be that guy again.

He didn't really know whether to be surprised or not when he saw Ray put her arm around Tina, keeping complete composure as she ushered the soaking goth girl into the bathroom.

He didn't know why she did it but he found himself following them into the girls room (he'd never really cared all that much for school rules and he'd done far worse things in this bathroom) where he found Tina in a small tank top (Artie was a lucky, lucky man) sitting with her back to the sink as Ray washed the sticky mess out of her hair.

"You okay Tina? You want me to go kick that fucking puck heads ass for you?" Ray looked up shocked at the sound of his voice and her eyebrows creased in confusion for a second before she smiled and turned her attention to wringing out Tina's now clean hair.

"I'm good Puck; Ray's actually helped a lot. Thanks though, it's…" Tina cut off, a twinkle in her eye because she knew if she called Puck sweet he'd see it as an insult instead of a compliment, "It's totally and completely badass of you."

Puck just smiled at her as Kurt rushed into the room, a tornado in Armani, or Prada or some other equally fruity brand. "Oh gosh Tina I just heard! Are you okay? I brought your clothes and…and Ray. Hi." Rachel smiled over at Kurt as she got to work on getting the blue corn syrup out of Tina's shirt.

"Hey Kurt. We were just getting ready to call you so you could bring clothes but it looks like you're a step ahead."

"Always dear. And well hello tall, dark and broody. You taking care of our girls here?" Kurt had a knowing look in his eyes as his voice rang out through the small bathroom, his gaze straying over to Ray before coming back to meet Puck's eyes, his eyebrows lifting in a question that Puck didn't even want to acknowledge to himself. Instead just telling him how Tina wouldn't let him kick the douche's ass.

As Kurt braided Tina's newly cleaned hair Ray turned from the sink, holding up Tina's shirt which was almost as good as new. "I got out as much as I could."

Kurt's eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw how much of the stain was gone, "Where'd you learn how to get slushy stains out so well? And to get that crap out of her hair?" Kurt didn't try to hide the confusion in his voice. As far as he knew most people didn't have to know the art of Slushy Survival, much less get good at it.

Ray merely shrugged in response, hoping she hadn't blown her cover, "Practice."

Puck stood still as Ray's single word washed over him. What idiot had slushied Ray? She was totally cool, and totally sexy, and completely bad ass. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought of someone giving her slushy facial until finally he had to ask. "Who would give you a slushy facial Ray? You're totally awesome."

He didn't miss the slight blush that crept up her cheeks as she finished reapplying Tina's eyeliner, "Thanks Puck. And don't worry about it; they were just some idiots from the school I went to before I transferred to New York."

It felt odd for the person who used to slushy Rachel the most to be the one to be the most caring about the fact that she'd gotten slushied before. She wouldn't lie and say she was (totally and completely) shocked when he walked in to check on Tina, but now that that caring was aimed at her in one way or another it felt almost right. He really was a nice guy and Rachel couldn't help but wonder what happened in the last year to change him so drastically.

Puck didn't like the fact that someone had messed with Ray, but he was glad that at the very least she understood and wasn't running for the hills like most people would.

XxX

As the day went by Rachel could feel the eyes of most of the (male) student body on her. She wasn't really used to this kind of attention. In New York there were so many people that even if someone did notice you it didn't feel like you had the eyes of the whole world on you.

She made it all the way through the morning without much more incident, gossip about the fact that she'd helped Tina out that morning making its way through the school like wildfire. She was happy for the break when she got to lunch, plopping herself down in the same seat as the day before, today with Santana sitting across from Brittany and watching her with curious eyes, as though she couldn't decide exactly what her feelings about her where. A part of her wanted to hate Ray because she felt like she was losing Brittany's attention to the new girl, but she knew that that was just her being territorial like she always was of the people she cared about. Another part of her felt like she could totally connect with her. She seemed laid back but she knew when to stand up for herself and she didn't take crap from anyone. Plus, Santana heard that after lunch the day before Ray had walked past a group of guys talking about how Brittany 'had to have been dropped on her head a few too many times as a baby' and how she was 'only really good at one thing' and apparently Ray had totally flipped out on them; calling them 'limp dick idiots who were only taking their problems out on Brittany because they hadn't boned anything but their hands and a blow up doll. Ever.' Anyone who took care of Brittany was automatically someone she respected, and the fact that she'd stood up to people twice her size (at least. Damn that girl was tiny) who she didn't even know without worrying about what it would do to her social status was pretty damn cool.

Finally deciding that she would hold off on passing any real judgment Santana just offered Ray a small smile before turning to Brittany and talking about a mall trip they had coming up.

Rachel was slightly taken aback by the smile that was shot her way. She knew that Santana's smiles were few (like negative number few) and far (like light-years or decades or something) apart and that she didn't hand them out to just anybody. She didn't have time to think about it very long when she felt a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

When she turned around she saw Dave Karofsky, (what she was good with names? Plus, she'd once considered pressing charges against him for 'accidently' pushing her into a locker and leaving a huge bruise across her side in freshman year.) the jerk who had thrown his slushy at Tina that morning, standing there like he thought he was posing for the cover of GQ or something. But he wasn't Puck (she couldn't believe she'd just thought that) who she was pretty sure was the only one in McKinley who would ever be on that cover. She merely arched an eyebrow in silent question, trying not to notice the fact that the entire cafeteria had basically frozen and had their eyes on her.

"Hey sexy. I was just thinking that you should probably come sit with me and my friends instead of these losers. You don't want to get mixed up with the wrong crowd."

Rachel nodded slightly and stood up from the table while pretty much everyone who was sitting there watched in complete shock. She was really going to just bail on them because some idiot jock came up to her and told her they were 'the wrong crowd'? It wasn't until Puck caught sight of the look on Ray's face that he smirked at the rest of them, nodding his head to try and tell them that this was gonna be good.

"Nope." Rachel only spoke one word but it rang out across the cafeteria to gasps of the (overdramatic) crowd. People couldn't believe that she was actually turning down the chance to sit with the jocks. Especially not so she could sit with the gleeks.

"Excuse me?" Karofsky seemed genuinely confused for a second, almost as though he thought he'd actually misheard him.

Any thought of that left his mind as soon as Ray opened her mouth again, "I said nope. If you think for a second that I'd rather sit here with you and your idiot friends than sit here with the, 'wrong crowd,'" Ray threw in finger quotes for effect, feeling the gazes of every student in the cafeteria on her, "Than honey, you've obviously taken one too many hits to the head."

"Baby you're making a stupid mistake here. You should be grateful that a stud like me wants to spend anytime like a bitch like you." Puck scoffed at Karofsky calling himself a stud, but when he called Ray a bitch he had to restrain himself from punching the bastard. Ray didn't seem like the girl who liked to have someone fight her battles for her.

"Stud. Right, my bad." There was hardly any sincerity in her tone but Karofsky seemed to be believing her, "You do know that the definition of stud is 'U' surrounded by 'STD'." Karofsky stopped for a second but without missing a beat Ray started speaking, that fake concern and sincerity once again dripping from her voice, "Have you been sharing your blow up doll with your friends again?"

Everyone in the cafeteria started laughing like it was the best joke they'd ever heard and after a few seconds Karofsky took off out of the room, people still pointing a laughing by the time Ray sat back down to the dumbfounded stares of everyone else.

"What? He's a jerk who threw a drink on Tina and was talking about Brittany yesterday. He deserved it!" The defensive tone in her voice made everyone start laughing, shaking off their surprise.

"Ray, that was fucking awesome." Puck's voice was loud as he joked, "You're a total badass."

**A/N- Okay here's chapter three. This is gonna be a little bit of a long authors not but please bear with me, it's important stuff. I hope you guys like it and it makes up for how short chapter two was. It's still a little filler-ish but I need to get some of this introduction stuff out of the way before I can really get into the story. This was supposed to be up last night but of course things went crazy so it had to wait but I'm actually kind of happy with the way things have worked out.**

**Quinn and Finn should probably be in the next chapter. I've been trying to figure out exactly what their dynamic is going to be in this story. I have some ideas but I'm really not positive yet. **

**I hope you guys liked seeing a little bit of Santana's softer side. I know I like writing it. I feel like underneath her tough exterior is just a little girl who's afraid and doesn't know what she's doing. She seems broken in so many ways. **

**Just a question to you guys, do you want Santana/Brittany to be just friends or do you want them to have more? That was my one problem writing this, I couldn't decide so you guys have to choose for me. **

**The song that Ray sings for auditions is **_**Barely Breathing **_**by Duncan Sheik. I've been trying to find the perfect song for her to audition with since my last update and I still feel like I've missed the mark but this one works. **

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or set an alert for my story. I went over and checked out my stats just a little while ago and you guys are seriously awesome!**

**Finally what I know you've all been waiting for, T H E N U M B E R S! I'm sure you were all wondering why I asked for those numbers. I averaged out all of them, which is a big deal because I hate math and I think I'm allergic to it, and got 159. Whoever is reviewer 159 will get their own one-shot dedicated to them and written specifically for them. So get out there and review!**

**Oh and I added a link to Rachel's first day of school outfit on my profile. Take a look!**

**Okay I've babbled enough. I sound like Rachel. : )**


	4. Return of the Inns!

**B R A N D N E W M E**

_Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy. _

_**aclassicistkitten-**_** Rachel left for New York at the beginning of her Sophomore year when Mr. Shuester originally told them he was leaving. He actually left for a little while in this story and then he came back to work when he found out about Terri and the fake baby (wow that sounds like it'd be an interesting book. Terri and the Fake Baby. I can hear the reviews now) and now it's the beginning of their Junior year and she decided to face her demons and come back. She was only gone the one school year.**

Chapter Four:

By the time Rachel got to glee the story about what she'd said to Dave in the lunch room had spread like wild fire. By the time she was sitting in glee that afternoon it had already been posted on Jacob Ben-Israel's blog and there was even a video of it posted to youtube. She thought that the shock of it would have faded in the three periods that passed but as she sat next to Brittany discussing with her and Santana new choreography for the Cheerios she could literally feel the other glee kids' eyes on her.

For the most part she ignored it. She had to be used to people staring at her when she was a big star and this was just good practice for that (She was still Rachel after all, even if she had toned it down). If it wasn't for the burning stare of Puck on the side of her face she'd be okay. Most of the gleeks were at least pretending they weren't staring, despite the fact that it was fairly obvious that they were. Puck didn't pretend though, he just stared at her with an unreadable look in his eyes. She could tell he wanted to say something but for some reason he kept his mouth shut.

Puck finally found it in himself to tear his gaze away from Ray when Mr. Shue walked into the room, a big cheesy smile on his face that told everyone in the room that he had another assignment for them.

"Okay guys. This week I want you each to come up with a song to sing about someone. They should be about the impact they made on your life or about something they've done to you. I want you guys to focus on putting those emotions into the song. We'll have people start performing tomorrow if they're ready. If you're not ready that's okay, I'd rather have you guys find a song that really works for you than rush it."

The rest of the meeting was spent working on their songs for sectionals and finding ways to work Ray into a couple of the numbers, Rachel steadily ignoring the feeling of Puck's eyes on her back.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Santana's eyes were practically shooting laser beams as she took in Rachel's white eyelet lace mini-dress, black thigh high stockings and black and white oxford pumps.

Taking her time turning around and respond; knowing full well that she was about to face the wrath of Santana, Rachel finally answered; sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Well hello and good morning to you Santana. Did you sleep well?"

"Ugh answer my question Ray?"Rachel could practically hear Santana's eyes rolling as she shot her a look that basically said 'start talking before I murder you in your sleep'. Or at least something to the effect.

"These would be what I call clothes. You know, scraps of material sown together to make garments suitable for wearing?"

"Where's your Cheerios uniform? Sue's gonna kill you when she see's you wearing that, then she's going to skin you alive, and stuff you to keep in her office as a trophy!" Rachel couldn't help it, she actually laughed.

"Ew thanks for the image. And she actually already saw me. She wasn't happy and she tried to kick me off the Cheerios. Lucky for me I'm a master at crying on command. A few tears in Figgins' office, the veiled threat of suing if he let her kick me off for what I was wearing and voila. I have to wear my uniform two days a week, three on game weeks. Technically I guess that means everyone can wear their own clothes."

By the time Rachel had finished her story Santana was staring at her with her mouth practically hanging open. She couldn't believe that that had worked. She'd been trying to figure out a way to wear her own clothes since she joined the Cheerios in freshman year. Finally gaining back her composure Santana realized that she might have more in common with Ray than she thought.

"So wait, Ms. Sylvester just took it? She didn't fight back or threaten to put you on constant dry cleaning duty or throw something at you? Nothing?"

"Well she may have looked like she was about to lose it. But then I smiled at her, making it totally obvious that I had played Figgins and that I'd beaten her at her own game and she actually got like a look of respect on her face."

"Wow. Sue Sylvester respecting someone…never thought I'd see the day." Without letting Rachel respond Santana hooked their elbows before pulling Rachel away from her locker, "We have math together right?" As Rachel nodded her head, she took in the situation and knew she was most definitely in.

Puck couldn't tear his eyes away from Ray. He'd never been so attracted to anyone in his life and that was saying something. Plus, after the Karofsky incident at lunch and then hearing about what happened with Ms. Sylvester and Figgins that morning he knew that she would be haunting his mind later that night. Seriously, an outfit like that (thigh highs? Is she seriously trying to kill him?) on a girl like her should be illegal. When he was around her, he got like, butterflies or some shit. But manly, badass, butterflies. He didn't even think it was just because he hadn't hooked up with anyone in a long time either. For some reason he couldn't understand he might actually have legitimate feelings for her, and that was confusing the hell out of him.

While he was trying to think of an excuse to talk to her (and tried to figure out when he grew a vagina) Mr. Shue walked in.

"Okay guys, who's ready to perform?" The class was silent for a couple seconds before Ray raised her hand, reluctantly volunteering, "Ray, great! Okay I want you guys all to remember that this assignment is all about opening up and expressing your true emotions through song. Everyone needs to respect each other and remember that this isn't something that's particularly easy to do. Okay whenever you're ready Ray."

Smiling a sad smile, Ray walked up to Brad, or Tinkles as he was often called, handing him and the band sheet music and speaking to him quietly before walking over and picking up her guitar. Puck thought he recognized the tune that she was playing, but whatever it was had obviously been arranged differently than what he'd heard before. It wasn't until she finally started singing, a mellowed out version of the song that he'd listened to multiple times throughout his childhood while trying to cope with his father leaving.

"_And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon  
Little boy blue and the man on the moon  
When you comin' home dad?  
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son  
You know we'll have a good time then_."

Rachel was trying not to let everyone in the room see how affected she was by the fact that her father's were never there. She didn't want everyone to feel bad for her because she was always home alone, and because she didn't see her father's any less when she went to school in New York than she did when she lived at home.

Puck's heart broke when he saw the look on Ray's face and heard her voice cracking. It was obvious she tried to be strong, and that there were many layers to the girl singing at the front of the room. It reminded him of when he was young and his mother said that truly getting to know someone was like cutting an onion. First you had to get rid of the skin on the outside and then once that was gone you had to slowly peel back the layers until you reached the core. There were no ways to jump straight to the core; you have to earn it; work for it.

By the time Ray was finished with her song she was struggling to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall at any minute. She didn't want to show that kind of emotion in front of…well she didn't want to show that kid of emotion in front of anybody really. Her dad's were never there. She'd raised herself in a lot of ways (and she swore that the fact that no one was ever around caused her to be as socially awkward as she was) and she hated the fact that she was always so alone. Before she left for New York it never seemed to occur to anyone that she might be lonely. No one ever realized that sometimes all she wanted was a friend; someone who really cared about her.

Sitting back down, she was only half listening as Kurt sang a rearranged version of _Rose's Turn _from the musical _Gypsy_. If she had been paying attention she might have noticed Puck's gaze straying to her, but she was too focused on trying to keep her cool and not show any more emotion than she already had.

"Great job guys. You both definitely got the meaning of this assignment. That's what we truly bring to the table that the other teams are lacking. Puck, you're up."

Puck nodded his head, glad he had truly put thought into his song for the assignment and Rachel looked towards the front of the room where Puck was sitting on a stool, guitar in hand.

"So I wrote this song, and it's the first time I'm gonna be playing anything I've ever written in front of anyone but my family. So seriously if you mock me I'll go buy you a slushy." His words screamed badass but his tone and his expression showed joking. Rachel could tell that he was self conscious of playing his music in front of anyone so she made a point of giving him her full attention as his soft, almost lullaby like melody washed over her.

"_I've got an angel  
She doesn't wear any wings  
She wears a heart that can melt my own  
She wears a smile that can make me wanna sing  
She gives me presents  
With her presence alone  
She gives me everything I could wish for  
She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home." _

Puck's eyes were closed as he continued his song and Rachel couldn't help but wonder who he was singing about. This was a different side of him that she always suspected lurked underneath the badass exterior but never saw any evidence of. The raw emotion in his voice went straight through her and she loved the way his deep voice filled the room.

When Puck finished, a sheepish look falling over his face when the room burst into applause, Rachel found herself wondering who he was singing about. It was obvious everyone else knew the meaning behind the song, and she couldn't help but wish she knew too. All she knew for sure was that there was a lot about Puck that she didn't know and she wanted to find it all out so much that it scared her.

Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts by yelling in the hallway, getting closer and closer to the choir room. "Finn will you please just shut up! You don't understand anything okay? You don't understand how it feels to know that things will never be the same."

Kurt smiled as he looked around the room, the sound of possible gossip making his eyes light up as he locked eyes with Mercedes, "They're ba-ack!" Though he sounded excited, it was obvious that it was more at the prospect of scandal.

"Who?" All eyes quickly fell on Ray, who was slightly uncomfortable with all the attention after her performance.

"The Inn's. Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson. They were the schools golden couple until last year but now they're just a hot mess."

"I totally forgot that you didn't get to meet them yet. Just brace yourself because Quinn won't be happy when she finds out that you got her old spot on the Cheerios."

"_You're_ the cheer slut that stole my spot?" The room seemed to freeze before everyone switched their gaze over to the door where Quinn, her arms crossed tightly across her chest and a look of hate in her eyes. Finn stood sheepishly behind her, obviously knowing that things weren't going to turn out well for anyone involved, "You little cheeri-ho!"

"Hi, Quinn was it? Nice to meet you, I'm Ray." The blatant sarcasm in Rachel's voice as she stood up holding out her hand in a way that showed she was not afraid of the former head cheerio. In fact, Rachel was more than happy to finally have something that Quinn didn't.

"Ugh, you bitch!" That was the last thing anyone heard before the blond launched herself at Rachel, only getting one hit in before everyone processed what was happening and stepped it; Mike and Matt grabbing Quinn and holding her back.

Fully confident that Mike and Matt had Quinn in their grasp and that even if she did somehow get away she'd have to get around Artie who'd carefully positioned himself between the girls, Puck dropped down next to Ray, vaguely aware of Mr. Schue yelling at Quinn in the background. Her eyes were closed and her cheek was already swelling but Puck couldn't tell if she was passed out or not.

"Ray?" His fingers danced lightly down the cheek that Quinn hadn't hit, hardly aware of the fact that most of the people in the room were watching his moment of affection towards the new Cheerio.

"Noah?" Rachel's voice was quiet as she slowly came back to consciousness. It took her a second to realize she'd slipped up by calling him Noah. No one ever referred to him as Noah, and the only reason she thought of him by his given name because she thought the nickname Puck was completely ridiculous and she'd known him as Noah when they were younger at temple.

Everyone that sat surrounding Ray and Puck held their breaths and waited for Puck to blow up at the use of his first name, and were all surprised when he simply broke out into a soft smile, brushing the hair out of her face as her eyes fluttered open, "Are you okay?" The concern was evident in his voice as he helped her sit up slowly.

"My head hurts." Her statement led to laughter and the blush that drifted onto her face made Puck smile.

"I'll bet it does," Puck held his hand out as he helped Rachel stand. "Come on, I'll get you home."

Rachel smiled softly at Puck as she grabbed her bag and let him lead her gently out of the room, oblivious to the incredulous stares of the rest of the club.

"Okay what aliens took over Puck's body and how do we make sure that the other one doesn't come back?" Kurt's question was answered with silence until finally Brittany spoke softly, ignoring the looks of disbelief at her answer".

"It's love."

**A/N- Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out to you guys. I hit a MAJOR case of writer's block and honestly I'm not in love with how this chapter turned out. Still, I hope you like it. Quinn's back and she's not happy, plus it seems like Rachel's not the only one hiding something. Please, please review and remember that reviewer 159 gets a one-shot written for them. **

**Rachel's outfit (which is totally and completely Wendla inspired; kudos to those of you who caught that) is posted on my profile so feel free to take a look.**

_**Songs-**_

**Rachel- **_**Cats in the Cradle**_** by Harry Chapin**

**Kurt (Mentioned)- **_**Rose's Turn**_** from Gypsy**

**Puck- **_**Angel**_** by Jack Johnson**

**P.S. Thank you for all of my faithful reviewers. You really do make my**


	5. Promise Me

**B R A N D N E W M E**

_Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy. _

**Chapter Five:**

Puck's arm was wrapped firmly around Rachel's shoulders as he guided her out of the school and into the empty parking lot. He tried not to look at her swelling cheek, and he tried even harder to ignore the strange urge to kiss it and make it better like he always did for his little sister. The difference here was that the feelings he was having for Ray were far from brotherly. All he knew was that he wanted to make her better.

"Wait, where are we going? I need to get my car. I can't leave my baby here." Puck tried not to laugh at her weak protest but it was hard. She sounded like a small child, trying to convince their mom to get them a candy bar.

"No way are you driving. You just got knocked out." Puck didn't even let her finish the (adorable) "But…" that was on her lips before he continued, "Don't worry babe, I'll bring you back to pick it up later."

Rachel silently conceded, letting Puck continue to lead her towards his car, "So…that was some song you sang." He loved the way her cheeks colored at his compliment. She didn't say anything, partially because she doesn't want to think about all the feelings that she poured into that song and partially because she's embarrassed at having him compliment her. The only kind of response he got to his comment was a shy smile as she diverted her gaze away. "Seriously, you can really sing."

Any other time, with any other song Rachel would've bathed in the glory of this compliment, but instead she muttered a small "Thanks," while she tried not to think about her reasons for picking that song. Puck, however wasn't having any of that. He never felt the need for feelings before, and the fact that he wanted to talk about them now; to fix some of the crap in her life and make her smile, kind of scared him. But it was an exhilarating scary; the kind his mother always described when she told Sarah love stories to get her to go to sleep.

"So, um…the song. Was it about your parents?" Puck felt awkward talking about this feelings shit, but he was truly curious.

As much as Rachel didn't want to talk about her song, or about her dads, she felt comfortable with Puck, and she knew that he wouldn't treat her differently knowing that she was always alone. Turning to look out the window as he pulled out she finally decided to tell him. "My dads. They're always gone on business trips or just vacationing, leaving me alone. I didn't see them any less when I was at boarding school than when I'm home. It's part of the reason I went away to school. I mean sometimes I feel like they worked so hard so that they could have me and it's like I wasn't enough for them. They're just never there." Rachel realized she'd goon of on a tangent and her cheeks colored slightly, "Sorry sometimes I talk too much."

"No, it's cool. Believe me I get it. My dad walked out on my family when I was eight, when my mom was pregnant with my little sister. I listened to that song all the time. It was actually one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, both lost in their own thoughts. It was Puck who finally broke the silence, "So how do I get to your house?"

Rachel froze. They couldn't go to her house. She still hadn't taken down the pictures from when she was growing up and he would surely realize who she was the second he saw them. Plus there were boxes everywhere and absolutely no food. Thinking fast she looked over at him, "Could we not go there? No one's home and nothing of mine is unpacked and there's no food. Any chance we can go to your place instead?"

It was Puck's turn for his heart to stop beating. He was enjoying being normal for a while and if they went to his house he was afraid that she'd start treating him differently. Looking over at Ray as she sat in the passenger seat, her cheek bruising from where Quinn decked her he knew he couldn't force her to go to her house where she had no one. Taking a deep breath he nodded, "Sure."

The rest of the drive was quiet, Rachel singing along to the radio under her breath while Puck sat worrying, and hoping that when Ray found out the truth she wouldn't hate him. Pulling into his driveway Puck shut off the car and turned towards Ray, placing a hand lightly on her elbow to stop her from getting out of the car, "Okay I need you to promise me something before we go inside." The look of worry that was taking over Puck's face had Rachel wondering what was so important, "Okay, so I don't want you to, I don't know, like hate me or anything when we get in there. Just, promise you won't judge me for my past okay?"

Raising an eyebrow but still nodding her consent with a small, nervous smile Rachel cleared her throat, "Yeah, I promise."

"Good. Okay come on." When they met up again in front of Puck's truck she felt him lightly grabbing her hand and guiding her towards the house. He seemed to take a calming breath before he unlocked the door, holding it open for her.

Rachel took in the house around her. It was modest, not tiny but not huge like her house, but it felt much homier than she ever remembered her house looking. It was lived in, coats hung up on a coat rack next to the door and pictures all around. Things in her house always had to be just so, at least when her dad's were in town.

She'd been so caught up in looking around that she hadn't realized that Puck had walked away, talking to someone. It wasn't until she heard him saying goodbye to someone and letting them out the front door that she realized she'd missed something. Turning around she found him facing her with a small baby girl in his arms.

"Ray meet Beth…my daughter."

**A/N- I know, I know I suck. It's short and I've left you guys on a major cliffhanger but it was totally necessary. Okay maybe not but don't you love the suspense? I wanted to get this chapter up and I didn't like the way it flowed when I went past this point. Feel free to yell at me about it in a review!**

**Thank you too everyone who's always reviewing. You guys seriously rock!**

**eviewers. You really do make my**


	6. Frozen Peas and Stories

**B R A N D N E W M E**

_Disclaimer- Oh puh-lease if I owned Glee Mark Salling would never put his shirt on. _

**Chapter Six:**

Rachel's surprise showed on her face as she took in the image of Puck lovingly holding his small baby girl in his arms. He held his breath, trying to read Ray's face for any sign that would tell him where her head was, while she tried to formulate her thoughts. Finally she reached out, her finger trailing down the tiny babies face as she took in the beautiful little girl.

"Um…how old is she?"

Puck was sure the surprise showed on his face but he tried to quickly push it aside, grateful that she seemed to at the very least try to be accepting of the fact that she was learning he had a daughter. Placing his hand lightly on her elbow he led her further into the house; guiding her towards the living room and onto the couch.

"She's six months. She was born a little premature which is why she's so small." Puck stared down at his little girl lovingly as he remembered being truly afraid that something was going to happen to his little girl when she was born early.

"She's beautiful." Rachel couldn't help the small smile that spread over her face as she watched the self proclaimed badass and stud of McKinley holding the little girl in his arms, "May I?"

Looking up at her and meeting her eyes for the first time since he introduced her to Beth he couldn't help but return her small smile as he carefully passed the baby into her arms. He caught his breath as he drank in the sight of the girl in front of his lightly bouncing the small baby in her arms, singing a sweet lullaby softly under her breath as she sat there, mesmerized by the tiny infant that was giggling softly.

Quickly slipping into the kitchen and grabbing a bag of frozen peas for her cheek Puck was surprised to walk back into the living room and find Rachel in the exact same position, seemingly never even noticing that he left. Carefully perching himself on the edge of the coffee table in front of her he placed his hand lightly on her good cheek, turning her head softly so he could look at her black eye and lightly hold the frozen vegetables against it, "The swelling's not as bad as I thought it would be but we should still ice it and try to get it to go down some more. There's really nothing we can do for the bruising. It'll start to clear up in a couple of days."

"Thanks." She didn't change positions at all, instead tipping her head lightly into his hand as he held the corn against her swollen skin, "So, can I ask you who Beth's mom is?"

Puck swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. He knew this question was coming, and he knew he was going to have to explain to her that he'd been a terrible person who broke about every code in the book by sleeping with his best friend's girl. Looking up into Ray's soft brown eyes he knew that he had to do this. He owed her the whole truth, that way she could decide right then and there if she wanted to have anything to do with him, and by extension Beth, or if she wanted to turn around and walk away without looking back. He wouldn't blame her for whatever she chose but he had to do it right then and there.

"Quinn…" He made a point of not breaking eye contact with her. Trying to somehow ask her not to run away because of this without really saying the words.

"Wait, Quinn the girl who used my face as a punching bag earlier?" At Puck's nod Rachel continued, "But I thought Kurt said she and F-…oh."

"Look, it was a mistake and I'd regret it every day if I hadn't gotten Beth out of it. We were at a party and I was beyond drunk and apparently she and Finn got into a huge fight because he was flirting with Santana. I thought that I was, like, I don't know in love with her at the time so between that and the alcohol I didn't fight when she wanted to go further. I should have…god even though I was drunk I should have known better." Puck dropped his head into his hands, deciding that if he was going to tell her he was going to tell her the whole story, "I woke up the next morning and she was gone and when I realized what happened I hated myself. She just and Finn were fine the next day and she went back to basically ignoring me so I figured I wouldn't have to say anything and things would be okay. But then a couple weeks later Finn was seriously freaking out and he finally told me that Quinn was pregnant. She'd told him some stupid story about him getting her pregnant in the hot tub while they were making out and she threatened to tell the police I raped her if I told him the truth. I eventually went to a lawyer and I talked to them and basically they helped me plead my case that she was threatening me and trying to shut me out of my baby girl's life. Eventually I was able to tell everyone the truth, and Finn basically still hates me, not that I blame him. Quinn's still trying to deal with everything. Giving up her daughter but having her be with me and not off with some nice family like she'd wanted. Losing her popularity. Not that that makes what happened today okay, believe me she wasn't all there before the whole pregnancy thing but still, she's kinda hot and cold lately."

Rachel was fairly certain she'd never heard the mohawked boy speak so much. Looking down at the little girl in her arms she understood why he fought so hard to get to be a part of her life. Looking up she realized that Puck was obviously waiting for some kind of response so she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You're a great father Puck."

With a small smile Puck's hand came back up to cup Rachel's cheek once again, leaning towards her slightly he was about to close the distance between them when the door opened and his mother walked in, looking tired from her long shift at the hospital, causing he and Rachel to jump apart.

"Mom…hey!"

**A/N- Okay I know it's another short chapter but it's got a lot of information in it and honestly I wanted to get another chapter up and I think I may pass out if I try to keep writing. I hope you guys like this chapter. Please review.**


	7. Nap Time

**B R A N D** N E W M E

_Disclaimer- Oh puh-lease if I owned Glee Mark Salling would never put his shirt on. _

**Chapter Seven:**

An awkward silence filled the room as Puck's mother took in the sight of a girl she'd never met standing in her livingroom cradling her granddaughter lovingly to her chest as thoughit was the most natural thing in the world (Wait was that a Star of David around her neck?). Rachel shifted uncomfortably under the older woman's gaze, trying to remind herself that she'd met Ms. Puckerman before and that she had always liked Rachel…at least the Rachel she used to know.

Luckily the silence was broken by Beth's cries, snapping everyone's attention to her. Rachel automatically shifted Beth in her arms so her head was on her shoulder as she rubbed circles on the little girls back, bouncing her sothingly.

"Oh no tears beautiful girl. It's alright." Puck was at Ray's side within seconds; as soon as he got over his moment of admiration at how good Ray was with his daughter. Brushing back the peach fuzz on his baby girl's head lightly he met Ray's eyes, "She's probably hungry. Sophia mentioned that she wouldn't eat earlier. I'll go fix her a bottle. You got her?"

At Ray's nod of acquiescence Puck made his way into the kitchen, his mom silently following him as inconspicously as possible (which didn't really work all that well). She didn't even haeve to open her mouth for him to know what she was going to say, so the minute she walked into the kitchen he started talking, thought not without baiting her first.

"Hey mom. How was work?"

"Hey mom? How was work? Is that really all you've got to say right now? Who is that girl out there? Are you back to your old tricks?" Puck's mother was speaking at rapd fire and if it weren't for seventeen years of practice he would neve know what she was saying.

"Her name's Ray. She's a new student who just transferred from a boarding school in New York. And no mom, I'm not back to my old shit."

"And the two of you are just here, in the middle of the school day because…?"

"Because Quinn's a crazy psycho bitch who punched her in the middle of glee and literally knocked her the fuck out all because Ms. Sylvester recruited her for the Cheerios and decided to give her Quinn's old spot. I offered to take her home but she's still in boxes, plus she didn't want to be alone so I brought her here."

"Wow." The microwave beeped and Puck took it as his signal to end his conversation with his mother right now before she started talking again, more than likely about the Star of David necklace he knew for a fact she'd seen around her neck. Instead he quickly grabbed the bottle, tesdting it as he sent a nod to his mom before making his way into the livingroom where he found Ray craddling his daughter gently while singing quietly to her.

"I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Walk with me Suzy Lee..." Rachel glanced up to find that the eyes that she thought she could feel burning on her were in fact Noah's. She felt her cheeks color lightly at the fact that he'd stood there watching her from the doorway.

She bit her lip as he moved to sit next to her on the couch, her skin burning where he'd touched it while shifting Beth from her arms to his. She took in his profile as he smiled lovingly down at his daughter while she ate. She tried not to over think about the moment that his mother had interuppeted earlier (he was going to kiss her right?) and instead focused on the little girl in Puck's arms.

Brushing her finger's along Beth's head absentmindly Rachel took in Beth's beautiful, bright green eyes; which she recognized as the same as Puck's, "She really is beautiful you know?"

Puck smiled a true smile, never taking his eyes off of the beautiful little girl in his arms, "I know."

As Beth finished her bottle Puck shifted her lightly so he could burp her, his gaze finally fallinf back on Ray. "How's your eyes feeling?" Rachel's hand shifted automatically up to her cheek and she winced as her finger's brushed against the tender skin, "Been better. I'd actually forgotten about it until just now."

Puck let his finger's trail lightly against Ray's bruised cheek bone trying to ignore the urge to press light kisses along it to make her feel better. Rahcel's hear automatically tilted into Puck's hand, there eyes meeting in the comfortable silence.

Once again Puck's mother ruined the moment as she walked into the room with a tray of sandwhiches and drinks, not noticing that she'd just walked in on a moment between the two teenagers.

"Noah honey I figured ou guys didn't get to eat lunch so I made you some food. I'm going to go lay down because it wasw an insane night in the ER. You're sister's going to Katie Beth's house after school and they're bringing her home around nine so you don't need to worry about getting her."

"Okay thanks mom."

"Nice meeting you Ray. I hope to see you again soon."

Once Puck was sure she was out of hearing range he turned to Ray, "I'm sorry about her. She's a little insane but her heart is in the right place…usually."

"No she was sweet. Believe me I wish my parents cared enough about me to act insane."

Puck offered her a sad smile, putting his arm around her and grabbing the remote, flipping into the 'On Demand' section. "Movie?"

Rachel tried to hide how sad she was at the thought of her fathers, instead just offering a small smiled while she grabbed a sandwhich and kicked off her shoes to get more comfortable, settling right next to Puck who hadn't removed his arm from around her. As the movie started, Puck tightedned his arm around her so that she was pulled closer into his side, her head finding a spot next to Beth's on his chest.

xxx

"Noah…" Sara Puckerman may have only been eight years old but she was smarter than most people (read: her brother) gave her credit for. Seriously, he liked to act like she was just a kid but she could figure stuff out, thank you very much. That's how she knew that when she walked into her (dark) house only to find her brother asleep with her niece and some girl that something weird was going on. Her brother hadn't had girls around since Beth was born, except for some of girls from glee and that was just so they could play with Beth. Things seemed different just by the way Noah's arm tightened around the girl in her sleep while he buried his nose into her hair. Things were definitely weird, "Noah."

Puck woke up (reluctantly) to the sound of his little sister's voice. Opening his eyes groggily he firt too in the prescense of Beth on his chest. She was apparently sleeping happily with one thumb in her mouth. On the other side of his chest was Ray, her head directly over his heart and her legs draped comfortanly over his lap, "Sar what time is is?"

"A bit after ine. I had dinner at Katie Beth's house. Mom left for her shift at nine. She told me to wake you guys, " Puck didn't miss the look his sister shot Ray, "When I got home."

"Yeah, thanks. So how was Katie's?"

Puck tried not to laugh at the look his siter shot him at the quiestion. Seriously, he'd trained her so well. "It was fine, but who's that?"

Puck glanced over at Ray who for her part was still comfortably cuddled against his chest. "Oh that's Ray. She's my friend from school."

Sarah's groan at this new information would've made Puck flinch if he wasn't such a badass. She glanced over at Ray again, at least noting that he wasn't acting like he did when he had other girls over. Plus he was letting her around Beth which was definitely saying something because ever since she was born he'd made a point of makinf her his entire world.

Still, she had to ask, "She's not going to be like Santana or any of those other girl is she because they were really mean."

Shaking his head Puck couldn't help but smile at his sister's question while glancing over at Ray, "Nah, she's not going to be anything like those girls."

**A/N- Okay so I have more than this written but I felt like this was a good place to end it. I'm so sorry guys, I would've updated sooner but I had to go to Cleveland for some doctor's appointments and because my computer is broken that meant four days with no computer and no fanfiction. I seriously went through withdrawals. Anyways I've been writing in my journal and sometimes it takes a little bit before I get the chance to copy them over. The upside is that the next chapter's already started. **

**Remember reviews make me work faster. Thanks to everyone who's been following this.**

_**||LLL3||**_


	8. Midnight Talks

**B R A N D N E W M E**

_Disclaimer- Oh puh-lease if I owned Glee Mark Salling would never put his shirt on. _

**Chapter Eight:**

Sarah Puckerman smiled at her older brother's admission that the girl asleep next to him wasn't like all of the other girls he used to hang around but before wither sibling was able to say anything else Rachel began to stir against Puck's chest while he tried to ignore the tightening in his gut as Ray let out a small breathy moan in her half sleep state, "Noah?" He couldn't hide the smale that crossed his face at the sound of his name on her lipes. He ran his fingers lightly through her hair as she shifted against him, "What time is it?"

Rachel yawned as she began to wake up more fully, taking in the darkness in the house and the young girl that she recognized as Noah's younger sister, Sarah. They'd met many times at temple before she'd left and she always thought she was a sweet girl, although she was quite obviously Puck's little sister.

"It's after nine. Ray, this is my little brat of a sister Sarah, Sarah this is Ray." Rachel missed the look Puck shot his little sister, warning her to be nice.

"Hi Sarah."

Sarah was pleasantly surprised wen Ray spoke to her like an adult instead of acting like she was just a stupid little kid or even worse not really speaking to her at all. She was definitely different than the rest of Puck's girls.

"Hi!" Sarah smiled before heading upstairs after calling to her brother that she was going to watch tv.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep for so long."

"Psh, please. I was sleeping too. And for the most part so was Beth. I think after today we all needed a rest anyways."

"You're probably right. God, I can't believe someone already hates me. I'm a prize huh?"

"Happen to you a lot?"

"Mmm, not as much in New York but the kids at my school before I transferred all seemed to hate me." Puck didn't like the sadness in her voice and found he wanted to somehow take it all away.

"Well it's their loss. Now what do you think about staying here tonight? I really can't leave my sister here along and she'll bitch like no other if she has to leave to go get your car. Plus I don't really wanna risk waking Beth up."

Ray tried to ignore the terrile thoughts that hit her with his question. She knew she shouldn't like him but she couldn't help it. This wasn't the same Noah Puckerman who was throwing slushies at her every other day and she wasn't the same girl she was when she ran away to New York. The real question now was whether the new her and the new him went together but she'd never know unless she tried.

XxX

A while later Puck laid in his bed with Ray laying next to him, asleep in an old pair of his sweatpants and one of his football practice jerseys (totally hot by the way, but he had to focus on thinking of anything else but that) because she'd insisted it was stupid for either of them to sleep on the couch when he had a perfectly good full sized bed. His mind was swimming as he thought as he thought about the day while he looked at the girl sleeping next to him. He couldn't believe they'd only met three days before. He'd felt like he'd knon her forever. It wasn't until he was drifting off that a thought occurred to him. Did she call him Noah?

XxX

Rachel as asleep when she first heard it; interrupting her dream about making out with Puck in her bedroom. She didn't recognize the sound at first, instead just turning over and burrying her face onto whatever was next to her.

What was that? She took a deep breath and as the manly smell washed over her so dd the memories of the day. Glee, getting punched n the face, telling Puck about her dads, meeting Beth, meetng his mo-…Beth!

As the little girls name ran through her head she realized where she was and that the sound was Beth crying. Finally opening her eyes she saw Puck's eyes starting to shift underneath his still closed eyelids. She quickly rolled off of the bed and moved towards the little girl's crib across the room, reaching out automatically and picking her up, bouncing her in her arms.

"You[re such a pretty little girl did you know that? I'm sure you do; I'm sure your daddy tells you that all the time. Uh-huh, he does doesn't he? That's right Bethy-Boo I'm sure he does. You have him wrapped around your little finger don't you?"

Rachel stopped speaking for a minute as the baby smiled a toothless smile and gigled as though she knew exactly what Rachel was saying and was agreeing with her. "Yeah I'll bet you do. Do you now how lucky he is to have you in his life? How much better you've made him? You're probably the best thing to happen to your daddy. And he's a great daddy isn't he? He'd do anything for you. You're lucky to have someone who loves you so much. He'd never leave you along to take care of yourself. In fact I bet he'd fight anyone who even thought of taking you away."

Rachel looked down at the baby who'd drifted back o sleep in her arms and a true smile ghosted across her face. Placing a small kiss on her forehead she layed her back down into her crib, tucking a blanket around, "Sweet dreams baby girl."

Turning to go back to bed her breath caught in her throat when she came face to face with a very awake Noah Puckerman, "God Puck how long have you been up?"

"Eh long enough." Actually Puck was half awake when Ray had crawled out of bed to comfort beth and had layed there entralled in watching Ray with Beth. She talked to her like she was her own little girl with love in her voice.

As he'd watched her talking to his baby girl Puck realized that she was doing something Quinn had never bothered to do. She was being more of a mother to her than anyone ever had and it surprised him that instead of making him want to grab Beth and bolt he found something about the thought of her treating Beth like her daughter somewhat comforting.

He was also surprised at hlow much her praise of him as a father warmed him inside, even if he could hear the bitterness in her voice when she spoke of her own fathers. Even so, the fact that she seemed to have so much faith in him, despite knowing him for less than a week, meant more to him than he wanted to admit, probably because since she was born most people told him there was no way he could handle taking care of a baby and that he'd be a terrible father and the good thing to do for Beth would be to give her up. After having everyone tell him that he couldn't take care of his baby girl it was nice to have someone believe in him for once.

Rachel bit her lip and averted her eyes, the reddening of her cheeks a dead giveaway that she was embarressed having her conversation with the baby girl overheard. "Eavesdrop much?"

Puck just laughed as Ray got back into bed next to him, huffing indignantly as she turned on her side and tried desperatly not to think about his thoughts about what he'd overheard her saying. Just as Ray was drifting off to sleep she felt Puck's arm wrapping around her waist and his goodnight wishes whispered into her hair, "Night Ray."

**Okay guys here's chapter eight. We've almost reached review *159* so everyone review if you want a chance at getting a one-shot written for you. I hope you guys liked this chapter.**


	9. Coolest Girl on Earth

**B R A N D N E W M E**

_Disclaimer- Oh puh-lease if I owned Glee Mark Salling would never put his shirt on. _

**Chapter Nine:**

Lucklily Beth slept through the rest of the night, which Puck couldn't have been more grateful for because despite his afternoon nap he found that the was still dog tired. It wasn't until a little after seven that he woke up to Beth's quiet cries; Ray tucked into his chest like it's the most natural thing in the world. Tucking a small strand of hair behind her ear Puck carefully crawled over her and out of bed to take care of his daughter.

"Hey pretty girl." As soon as she was in his arms her tears quieted and she began cooing.

"You're a really good dad you know that right?" Ray's voice from behind him startled him but he was able to maintain his cool, turning to face her a leaning against Beth's crib with her cradled to his chest.

"Oh yeah, I heard all about it last night." The smirk that crossed his face was utterly and completely Puck but the look in his eyes was distinctly Noah.

"Uh, you weren't supposed to hear all that," Rachel dropped her head into her hands to hide the blush on her cheeks, "No letting that go to you head. Whether it's all true or not you don't need a bigger ego."

Rachel stood up, stretching her tired muscles and taking Beth into her arms and giving her a small kiss on the forehead, "Morning little one."

Puck smiled at Rachel's interacttion with Beth. For some reason it was nice to see that Rachel was just as endearing with Beth in the light of day as she had been when he was half asleep in the middle of the night, "So here, these are a pair of sweats that I greew out of and I found a tanktop someone gave my sister that was too big for her and since you're completely tiny I figured it might fit you." Puck wasn't sure what the look on her face meant so he quickly rushed on to cover up, "I mean you don't have to wear them, we can run by your house and get you clothes or you can always change into one of the spare Cheerio uniforms but umm…"

"No, it's great thanks." Rachel couldn't believe that not only had Puck had her in his bed all night without trying a single time to put the moves on her but he was also more than fine with having her walki into school with an old pair of his WMHS Football sweatpants with his number on the hip so there was no mistaking whose they were.

XxX

Twenty minutes later Beth's babysitter had arrived so Ray, Puck and Sarah all piled into his so they could drop her off at a friends house (the elementary school didn't start for another hour) before making their way to school.

Sarah started babbling away as soon as the car started so by the time they dropped her off the silence seemed odd to both teens, and yet it was till incredibly comfortable with Rachel humming along the radio as Puck tapped out the beat on the steering wheel.

Soon enough they were pullig into the parking lot of the high school, "Hey pull over near my car will ya? I think I'd got a black hoodie that I can throw on." Puck glanced over at her, his eyes glancing down to the tank top he'd found for her which was extremely tight against her toned skin.

"I don't know which car's yous Ray." Laughing at her stupidity Rachel pointed out which car was hers and Puck thought he was having a heart attack.

"_That_ is your car? Seriously?" At Rachel's nod of confirmation Puck moved forward and ran his hand over the cars amazing bodywork, "Honestly Ray you're the coolest girl on earth, hands down."

Laughing and rolling her eyes Rachel grabbed her hoodie before throwing her bag over her shoulder and making her way towards the school, only givig a seconds thought to the fact that she wasn't sure if Puck had actually pulled himself away from her car long enough to follow her. She didn't have to, she could feel his presense behind her and she was pretty sure she could smell him too, although there was a chance that was just because she was wearing his clothes.

"You do realise everyone's staring…" Rachel could feel everyone's eyes on her, particularly her clothing, as she made her way down the hallway and she could only imagine what kinds of rumors where already being spread.

With a quick smile and a 'see ya' thrown over his shoulder Puck continued down the hall a bit towrds his locker while she stopped at her own. Grabbing what she needed and stuffing it into her bag she quickly slammed the door, jumping up in surprise when she found not only Brittany but Kurt and Santana standing behind it with expectant looks on their faces.

"Jesus you're all good at that. What do they teach a class in it or something?"

Brittany was the first to break her stoic demeanar, giggling instead as she looked at Ray, "Nah, but San did have to explain to me that you have to be really quiet or else the filiment of surprise is ruined."

Rachel briefly considered correcting the girl and telling her that it was the 'element' of surprise that would be ruined but she quickly decided that would only confuse the girl more, plus she didn't get a chance to say anything because before she did Kurt started talking, "What's going on? You show up at school in Puck's car, in his clothes, with hardly any makeup on? Did you too get it on last night, because if you did I feel compelled to inform you that you still have an obligation to look fierce, whether you're doing the walk to shame or not. I mean seriously you couldn't take five minutes to try and cover that nast bruise?"

"Oh my god Kurt, no we did not, as you so eloquently put it, get it on last night. I was at his house and we fell asleep and then by the time we woke up it was too late for him to take me to get my car so I just stayed the night. Nothing sexual involved. And for your information I tried to cover this bruise. You should see it without any makeup on."

The three girls (okay two girls an Kurt but still) stood their blinking at her, their confusion written across their faces. This wasn't an unusual expression for Brittany but the other too looked so odd with it painting their features that Rachel couldn't help but giggle, "What?"

After a beat or two they all seemed to snap out of their confused trances, or at least Kurt and Santana did, Rachel wasn't (ever) really sure what Brittany was thinking. It was Santana who finally spoke, "Nothing it's just…odd I guess. This is a different side of Puck, a very different side. I've never seen him act this sweet towards anyone but Beth, Sarah and his mother. And you're saying he didn't try to make the moves on you at all?"

Rachel shook her head, wondering what Santana was trying to say but all she said was, "Interesting." Meanwhile Brittany had begun smiling and humming while she pulled Ray down the hall, practically skipping towards class.

**A/N: I hope you guys like the fast update. I know this is a little bit of a filler chapter but it's got some really important information in it, as you'll find out later. **

**Reviewer number 159 was Kuuleialoha1 so they're going to be getting a one-shot written for them. If they don't answer my PM then I'll pick the next reviewer. Please keep reviewing!**


	10. Author's Note

Author's Note-

Okay I know I stink for posting an author's note in here when you guys really only want the next chapter, which is being worked on but I've been having a bit of trouble getting things to work how I'd like. Okay quick question. Would you guys be at all interested in reading a Puck/Rachel fanfic inspired by the movie Coyote Ugly? I was watching it earlier and the scene where Violet is "auditioning" and the blonde chick (can't think of her name) came up to her and said "We all have our little parts to play. Rachel's the bitch, and I'm the tease…only Rachel really is a bitch…and I really am a tease!" I could totally picture Brittany saying that about her and Santana. So anyways let me know.


	11. Jeeves!

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on. **_

**B r a n d N e w M e**

**Chapter Ten:**

Later that day Rachel sat in her empty house, a dvd on in front of her but her mind somewhere else completely. On Puck and Beth to be exact. She couldn't believe that the Noah she'd spent the night with (Oh god, no wonder Kurt had been making fun of her all day for being a 'dirty girl.' That sounded terrible) yesterday was the same guy who used to throw slushies at her every other day. Maybe he'd had a lobotomy or been kidnapped by aliens and replace with alternate universe Puck? Or maybe, having that beautiful little girl in his life had changed him for the better.

Rachel layed there thinking about things that she didn't even want to admit to herself. There was no way she was falling for Puck or Noah or whoever the hell he was lately (wow, she felt like a hypocrit even just thinking that). This was the boy who used to torment her on a daily basis, there was no way she had any kind of feelings for him beyond those of platonic friendship.

"Ugh!" Her voice echoed through the empty house, reminding her once agan just how alone she was and making her yearn to be back in New York. Her grunt was answerred by the ringing of their doorbell. And then the ringing of it again, and again and again.

Rachel made her way to the door, trying to figure out who was there and why they felt the need to repeatedly ring her bell. She was surprised when she swang the door open to find Brittany standing on her porch, staring intently at her doorbell as she pushed the button again, and again, "Umm, hey Britt."

Jumping in a mixture of surprise and excitement Brittany quickly turned her attention from the doorbell ("It made such a pretty sound" was her innocent answer when Rachel asked her what she had been doing,) and on to Rachel, quickly pulling her into a hug, "Yay, Ray you're here!"

"Umm, yeah I'm here. It's my house where would I be?" Quickly it dawned on Rachel that Brittany would undoubtidly want to come inside and Rachel still hadn't taken down the photos of her growing up, yearning to feel like a normal kid whose parents cared about them. One glance at those and her entire charade (literally) was over, "What are you doing here Britt? How did you even know where I lived?"

"Oh, well I wanted to invite you to Santana's tonight. Everyone from Glee's gonna be there and we thought it'd be an awesome way for them to get to know you. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Um, sure Britt it sounds great but how did you know where I live?" Rachel was becoming anxious. Things had been going great. She'd made friends, finally felt like she was fitting in, and she didn't want to lose that. She couldn't lose that. She'd run from this place because no one wanted her here and now she was back and and things were different. The only thing she didn't expect was that that could change in a New York minute.

"Oh I asked Ms. Wright when I was leaving my dance class. Told her it was really, really important and she gave it to me. You're not mad are you?"

"Umm…no. Come on in." Rachel was shaking as she pulled the door open so Brittany could come inside. She figured she would totally go for broke. Brittany had never actually done anything to her before, just followed Santana and Quinn. Plus, she seemed to be the most accepting of her now out of everyone, including the original gleeks and Rachel figured it wouldn't be so bad to have someone on her side who knew the whole truth.

"Oh yay!" Brittany jumped up and down, clapping her hands like a child. "Your house is so pretty. My room's yellow, is yours?"

Taken aback by the random question Rachel stumbled for an answer, "Ummm…no. It used to be but I painted it when I moved back to town."

"Oh…" Rachel asn't sure if that was what Brittany intended to be her entre statement because she trailed off, her eyes darting around the room. She seemed to be trying to take in every detail and Rachel held her breath as she waited for a reaction.

"Ray your house is _huge_! It's like a mansion. Do you have a butler named Jeeves?" Brittany's question seemed to be completely serious (although it was always difficult to tell with her) but she didn't wait for the answer (no). Instead Brittany started calling out for 'Jeeves', stopping mid word as something caught her eye.

"Hey, that girl used to go to school with me!" Brittany exclaimed as she pointed to one of the few framed photos her fathers decided to hang up during a breif visit home. "Santana and Quinn were always kind of mean to her. Is she your cousin or something? She looks a lot like you."

Rachel couldn't believe it. She hadn't really been found out and yet she felt a giant twinge in her gut at the thought of straight out lieing to Brittany, who had ever actually done anything to hurt her; only followed Quinn and Santana out of habit. So far she hadn't actually outright lied to anyone, just omitted details. This time though, it was either out herself or lie to someone who was shaping up to be one of her best friends.

"Ummm…no Britt, she's well, she's me."

Brittany turned a blank stare at Rachel, blinking at her in confusion and Rachel could actually feel her heart beating crazy fast as she waited for her to storm out and tell everyone her secret. The new girl Ray was actually crazy Rachel Berry who thought she could trick everyone into liking her. What she didn't expect was for Brittany to throw her arms around her, hugging her tight. She might not have been the brightest person, but for once Brittany understood exactly what was going on without having to question things. She knew why Rachel wasn't telling anyone who she really was and she felt terrible that she had to pretend to be someone she wasn't (or at least not tell people who she really was) just to try and get a chance at fitting in.

The two girls seemed to somehow have an entire conversation without once opening their mouths. Brittany was able to make Rachel see that what was in the past was going to stay there as far as she was concerenced and Rachel was able to show Brittany how much it meant to her that she wasn't treating her differently.

"So, Santana's party?" Brittany's whispered question seemed to break any tension that was still hanging in the air and Rachel couldn't help but giggle and nod her head while discreetly wiping away a tear that escaped. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

**A/N- Sorry for the wait guys. My computer is litterally falling apart (like being held together by duct tape) and it's really hard to type on. I'm getting another one in the next couple of days though. Let me know what you think of this chapter. Someone finally knows! Also, check out my other story, Coyote Ugly.**

**Next chapter- Glee bonding at Santana's, Puckelberry goodness, and a kiss? **


	12. Sexual Skill

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on**_

_Brand New Me_

**Chapter Eleven:**

By the time Brittany and Rachel got to Santana's house for the party things were in full swing. Everyone from glee was already there (except for Quinn and Finn) and most of them already had some alchhol in their systems. Puck stood off to the side, rocking an awake Beth in his arms while Tina sat next to him, the baby girl holding tightly onto the asain girl's finger. Artie was playing DJ while most of the club was dancing in the large space that had been made in Santana's living room by moving her large coffee table off to the side.

Considering it was at Santana Lopez's house, Rachel figured this was a small gathering too them, and it was most definitely smaller than most of the house parties she'd both had and attended when she was in New York, but she knew better than to go by New York standards. Everything was different there.

Rachel was standing in the kitchen, getting a soda because she'd promised Brittany she'd drive them back to her house at the end of the night. She scanned the room, people watching as everyone did their own thing, unaware that she was standing five feet away from them taking in every detail of what was going on. Not in a creepy way, but in an observant one. So many things had changed since she'd been gone, and she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she'd stayed in Lima. Would everything and everyone be the way they are now? Did the changes she made when she was in New York really make her that much likable, or was it the fact that she finally got the chance to show people the real her and not just the tough façade she put up for everyone?

Rachel smiled as she spotted Brittany slow dancing in Mike's arms to a club song. They were completely in their own world, unaware that they were slow dancing to a song most people would be dirty dancing to. Her eyes drifted over the rest of the room until she spotted Noah. Tina had gone to help Artie with the music selections, leaving Noah sitting alone on the couch. He didn't seem to feel as though he was missing anything however, while he sat contendtly holding his daughter whle his friends had a mini party around him. It was obvious to her that she was his world. That he would do anything he had to to keep his baby girl safe.

A smile spread across her face as she made her way back into the living room, cutting a path straight over to the couch where Noah sat with a noew sleeping baby Beth in his arms, plopping down in the seat that Tina had emptied next to him.

Puck couldn't help but smile when he felt the couch shift and looked over to find Ray sitting next to him, her eyes gazing intently at Beth while she dozed. He knew without a doubt that she would make a great mother someday, and even as the thoughts were crossing his mind he shoved them right back out, though not without great effort. He could start thinking of Ray as a mom for Beth because that could only lead to the three of them geetting hurt, and he couldn't do that to his daughter. He'd lost a parent because they walked out before, and he swore to himself that he'd never make his daughter suffer throuh the same kind of pain that had turned him into the stone cold, heartless jerk he'd been for so long. He didn't want her to turn into his own little, mini-Puck who kept everyone at arms length and didn't let anyone in. She had to much to offer the world, already.

"She really is beautiful. I mean I know I've already said that but…yeah." Ray's voice pulled him from his thoughts, his eyes snapping up to see her gazing contentedly at his sleeping daughter. He couldn't help the smile that drifted onto his face as she ran her hand softly over Beth's head and made sure not to wake the baby as she leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forhead. There was something about seeing this girl being so sweet to his daughter that made his heart skip a beat and drop into his stomach.

Clearing his throat Puck tried to shake of the feelings while he looked down at his little girl, "Well obviously I mean look who her father is." Looking up at her for the first time since she started speaking, Puck almost missed the glint of something unidentifiable in her eyes.

She bit her lip and caught his eye, opening her mouth as though she was about to say something she was cut off by Santana, who was smirking at the two on the couch, "Puck go put my god-daughter down in Maddie's crib. It's time for you to have some normal, teenaged fun."

Santana left no room for discussion, turning quickly back towards center of the room where everyone else had migrated into a circle on the floor while Rachel and Puck were stuck in their own little world.

"Ray I saved you a seat!" Rachel's head snapped to where Brittany was sitting next to Mike, their hands linked as she leaned against his side. She took a second to wonder about whether she needed to worry about Britt telling her secret to Mike. She knew that Brittany promised to keep her secret (multiple times as she'd unnecessarily begged Brittany not to say anything to anyone while they were driving to Santana's house, Brittany simply nodding her head and eventually swearing on her Cheerios uniform that she'd keep her lips sealed) but she also knew that she and Mike were extremely close. The most she could really do at this point however was to hope that she didn't say anything and enjoy the time she had as Ray before her secret inevitably came out as she knew it would at some point. She wasn't stupid and she knew that if someone had already found out the truth it was only a matter of time before all of McKinley knew.,

Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts by Puck sitting down in the empty seat next to her as Santana turned down the music a bit and sat down, margarita in hand. Most of the gleeks were drinking, although a select few were obviously, like herself, playing the part of the designated drivers of the evening.

"Okay so we're gonna play truth or dare, but whenever you pick truth you have to take a shot. The best way to get the truth out of someone is to get them drunk after all. Who wants to go first?" Kurt was almost shaking in excitement as he announced this, causing Puck to snicker (Rachel could swear she heard him mumble something about a ten year old girl at her first sleepover under his breath but when she raised an eyebrow at him in question he just shook his head) and Rachel and Brittany to roll their eyes at each other.

The game started out normally enough. Exactly what Rachel would expect coming from a bunch of (mostly) buzzed or tipsy (nobody was drunk—yet) teenagers. Most of the questions and dares had to do with sex in some form or another, especially the ones coming from the guys, and they were getting progressivly worse as the game went on. Most people in the group picked dare, not wanting to come off as afraid, although when they did pick truth they usually had to tell the group something completely mortifiying about themselves.

The game went on like this for a bit with Ray mostly sitting back and watching, getting forced to do something every once in a while because she knew that if she picked truth not only would she be forced to drink, which would screw up her being designated driver, but she could potentially risk her secret somehow coming out.

As the game wore on, and more shots were poured, things seemed to get kicked into sexual hyperdrive, and she somehow kept finding herself in the middle of it all. That's why she was afraid of giving her answer when Matt (who was surprisingly much dirtier than his quiet exterior would lead someone to believe. He was also surprisingly a bit of a ladies man. Puck may have once been the 'Man Whore of McKinley' but Rachel was beginning to believe that was just because he tended to brag about it to anyone who listened where as Matt seemed to be what Rachel and her friend Charlotte in New York likedn to call a silent slut. You only know about their escapades if you're close to them) turn to her with a smirk on his face. He'd been knocking back shots like they were going out of style, despite the fact that he'd only chosen truth once or twice and Rachel knew that whatever had him smirking like that wasn't going to end well for her, "Ray-Ray," Why had no one told her he was a hyper drunk? "Terrible truth or deadly dare." His eyes were glinting and he reminded her a bit of a little kid hyped up on candy on halloween.

After she gave him her answer (dare) he burst out laughing, "Okay, show us one of your best sexual talents…on Puck!"

Rachel felt a blush rising to color her cheeks, as she threw a sideways glance over at Puck who looked torn between being apprehensive and excited. Eventually apprehension won out (and she swore to herself that she wasn't offended by that) and right when he was opening his mouth in protest Rachel grabbed his hand and took his pointer finger deep into her mouth until her lips were all the way down to his second knuckle. After a few seconds she pulled back and smiled shyly at the group, her cheeks a bright red as she avoided eye contact with anyone, especially Puck, "No gag reflex."

Most of the group seemed to find this hilarious, although not as hilarious as the part shocked, part turned on look that Puck was wearing. Matt, through his laughter, managed to throw out some sex joke about ice pops and practice and his bed which she did her best to ignore and not examine too closely, instead turning to Brittany and making her tell the group the craziest place she and Mike had ever had sex (showers in the Cheerios locker room while Mrs. Sylvester was in her office) to try and get the attention off of her and on something else.

This only worked for a few minutes however because the next thing she knew she was being dared to make out with Santana. Her cheeks, still red from her little show using Puck's finger, flared even brighter when Santana, who seemed completely unfazed by this dare, moved across the circle and wrapped an arm around Rachel as she started to kiss her slowly. After a few seconds of soft kisses however, Santana nipped at Rachel's lip causing an invoulantary moan to escape her mouth as Santana took the oppourtunity to slip her tongue into the small girls mouth.

The kiss went on for a few more minutes (and honestly Rachel wasn't ashamed to admit that she got a little into it. It wasn't so much the person as it was the fact that Santana was, not surprisingly, a really good kisser) before someone cleared their throat and the two girls broke apart. Santana was smirking as she moved back to her seat across the circle and Rachel dropped her head in her hands to hide her blush.

Eventually it was Matt who broke the awkward silence as he no so subtley adjusted his pants, "Okay that was hot."

**A/N- Okay I suck but remember I never said who was going to be kissing :) I know that if you read my one-shot Out Tonight you might recognize some elements from that story in this chapter like Matt being totally perverted and the Rachel/Santana kiss and even just them playing ToD to begin with but I just feel like a) Matt really is a perverted guy behind his quiet exterior and b) every great Puckelberry story should involve a scene that teases Puck by having a PezBerry kiss. It's like an unwritten law in my book that this always makes the story better and funnier. **

**Also, I just want to point out that this story won't have and Santana/Puck elements in any way other than they're really good friends. I know I had her calling Beth her god-daughter and that's just because I like Santana/Puck friendships. **

**Okay I think that's it. Let me know what you think!**

**||LLL3||**


	13. A Story Before Bed

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on. **_

_Brand New Me_

Chapter Twelve:

Later that night Rachel lay staring at her ceiling while Brittany, who'd gotten a little more than tipsy at Santana's house, lay quietly next to her, "Hey Rach?"

"Hmm." She hummed her response, turning over onto her side so she was face to face with the blond girl.

"What made you leave?"

"What do you mean Britt?"

"Well…I guess it's like I know that everyone treated you bad and it wasn't fair and you didn't desereve it and stuff but when made you leave? I mean you'd put up with it for that long right so something had to have happened."

Rachel sighed lightly at Brittany's question. She figured it was coming eventually, if not from Brittany than from everyone else when the truth eventually came out but she had been hoping to put it off. Some memories were just really painful to have to revist them, "My dad's were never around. They satarted leaving me along more and more when I was about ten or eleven. We were still living in California then so I didn't notice it too much. I had some really close friends and I practically lived at my friend Casey's house because they'd leave me there while they were gone so often. We moved here for my freshman year and at that point they were never around. I'd see them a weekend here or there but for the most part I was alone. That first day of my freshman year I told Quinn I didn't want to be on the Cheerios because I was too busy. I was taking tons of dance classes and vocal lessons and acting courses so I wouldn't have to be home by myself too often. She didn't like being rejected. She seemed to take my saying I was to busy to mean that I thought I was too good for the Cheerios. That's when the bullying started. First it was just a little bit of name calling but little by little it got worse. I tried to ingore it; pretended it didn't bother me and figured they'd get bored eventually. They didn't. She was mad because I wasn't reacting so she decided to Slushy me one day in the cafateria and if she hadn't made sure it was known that I was a loser already that did it. Soon everyone was slushying me and I stopped wearing my nice clothes to school, tired of wasting them." Taking a deep breath Rachel tried to convince herself not to cry as she kept talking.

"Things were bad but I guess I never wanted to risk my dads finally deciding to come around and me having left. I figured that they'd realize how much I wanted them around; needed them to be there, and I didn't want to go off to boarding school and have it be too late." Blinking away the tears that were building up behind her eyes Rachel let a ghost of a smile cross her face when she felt Brittany's hand take hers, "I kept convincing myself that things were going to get better, especially when sophomore year started and Mr. Shue took over glee. Even when he left I was set on taking over running it. At least I was until I was running late to practice one day and I heard Mercedes and Kurt talking about how as much as it sucked that glee was over at least they didn't have to deal with 'crazy ass Rachel Berry' anymore. That's when I realized that no one wanted me here. No one was going to miss me if I left. Not my parents and certainly not anyone at school.

"My aunt is an alumnis at a performing arts boarding school in New York and she'd been wanting me to go there for as long as I can remember. I never wanted to leave, you know just in case but after overhearing that conversation in the auditorium I decided I was done. My aunts been giving them cd auditions with recordings of my singing ever year since I started middle school in the hopes that I'd change my mind and decide to finally leave Lima and William McKinley behind and go there instead. I finally took her up on it.

"It was…well it was kind of weird actually. I mean from the moment I walked into that school and met my roommates I felt like I had friends for the first time in a really long time. I can't even describe what it felt like. They taught me that everything didn't always have to be about work. That sometimes it was okay to just have fun and not stress about every little thing, but they were still set on their goals. I mean you'd love Victoria. She's an amazing dancer and at first it seems like she'd be all about ballet and structured dancing but she's one of the best hip hop dancers I've ever met. She might actually give Mike a run for his money. And Charlotte, Charlie, I swear that girls got more drama in her pinky finger than I have in my entire body. She's like crazy eccentric and totally Soho Chic but she's also one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. And Sam is a total jock who's an amazing singer. His family's from California and he'd complain about it being cold like all the time. He totally thought he was like, our big brother or something. He was totally protective but it was nice to feel taken care of for once. I remember the first time I got drunk out there, and it wasn't like tipsy drunk it was like where-am-I-and-how-the-hell-did-I-get-here drunk, he brought me back to my room and sat up with me all night while I puked my guts up. I'd never had that before. It was nice to feel like I had people I could depend on. I miss them."

"Why'd you come back then?" For once, Brittany was intuitive enough to realize that she'd hurt Rachel's feelings by accident and she quickly back peddaled, "I mean I'm happy you did. You're really fun, and I'm really kind of sad that I always listened to Quinn when she'd tell me you didn't like me and that you thought I was stupid. We could've been best friends sooner. But if you were so happy why'd you come back here where you were so…not happy?"

Rachel found herself a little taken aback hearing Brittany refer to her as her best friend but she quickly got over it, letting out a bitter laugh as she thought about what had led her back to Lima, "My dads. They uh, they called me at the end of the summer. Told me they missed me and that they were so sorry that they'd neglected me for so long. That they wanted to come home and build a relationship with me and that they'd be home more to spend time with me. I don't know why I actually fell for it. I mean it's not like this is the first time they'd been struck with an ounce of a conscience a said that they were going to change. It happens every year or so and nothing ever changes. I should've known that as soon as I came home things would go back to the way it was before; actually deep down I probably did know it but…I guess I didn't want to miss my shot you know? Just in case this was for real this time. I didn't want to miss out of the chance of having them be there. It was stupid of me. I mean as soon as I came home they spend a weekend with me before there was some kind of giant emergency and they had to leave. I haven't seen them sense."

"So you just came home? But why didn't you tell anyone? And why didn't you tell any of us who you really were?"

Smiling and the blond girls naivety Rachel turned onto her back, staring at the ceiling where she'd stuck dozens of green and purple glow in the dark stars when she was twelve years old, "No one liked me Britt. Even if I'm different now, if I'd just walked in there and they'd all known who I was they still wouldn't like me. It doesn't matter what I act like, things would go right back to the way they were. At least this way when the truth comes out I might have some friends to fall back on."

Listening to her new friend Brittany sighed. She felt terrible for everything she'd ever done to Rachel, even if she hadn't always realized that the things that she was doing were mean (how was she supposed to know RuPaul wasn't Rachel's middle name?). She never realized how hard Rachel actually had it, and even worse she'd never given her the chance to share it. She couldn't remember a time when everyone wasn't horrible to Rachel.

Knowing there was nothing she could do to fix the past, Brittany simply rolled onto her back, silently taking the smaller girls hand into her own as they both drifted off to sleep.

_**A/N- Okay I know it's a lot of talking but I felt like Rachel's story needed to be told. I've been realizing that my Brittany isn't as dumb as the one on the show, she's just seeming a little ditzy but I'm gonna try to dumb it up (or would that be down?) this just didn't seem to be the chapter to do it in. I'm putting up links to two outfits so you guys can get a better feel for Victoria and Charlie. Sam will, so far, be like Sam on the show (that's his name right?). I'm not sure if they're going to actually be in the story or if they'll just be referred to but either way I want to give you guys a point of reference. I'll let you know as Sam's character on the show progresses if he'll be occ.**_

_**Some people asked in their reviews about why Puck would bring Beth to a party so I'm going to explain it for everyone. The way I see it, Puck's family wasn't super well off to begin with. His mom's a single mother who was trying to raise two kids so by throwing a third into the mix, with or without Puck's help, is going to make the budget even tighter. That being said, it wasn't like he was going to a rave or a house party or something. It was just the gleeks at Santana's house where he's spent a lot of time anyways (remember in this story they're not romantic, they've just been friends for a really long time). They already pay a sitter during the day, I figured that this would be somewhere Puck would be comfortable taking Beth, around people who love her, instead of wasting money on a sitter.**_

_**SPOILERS for AUDITION: I know I already talked about this in the last chapter of Open Your Eyes and See (what you've never read it? Well what are you waiting for?) but I think I'm over excited that it's back and I just wanna talk about it more. So who else thinks the best line, ever, in the history of television was Sam's (I think that's his name. The new guy) come back at Puck. "Uh, I don't know I've never had balls in my mouth…have you?" Epic you guys.**_

_**Okay please review or I'll find the biggest cup ever and slushy you. Yeah, I went there.**_


	14. Belinda and her Purple Unicorn

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on. **_

_Brand New Me_

Chapter Thirteen:

Despite the fact that she hadn't had so much as a sip to drink at Santana's the night before rachel woke up feeling hung over. Her mind flashed images from the night before; reminding her of her talk with Brittany the night before where she told the blond girl part of her story as they lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Britt slept peacefully next to her, mumbling something about her cat and her diary that Rachel didn't even want to try and understand because if Brittany could be confusing when she was awake she didn't even want to think about the inner workings of her subconscious, and Rachel let her mind wander. Things here were complicated, but nothing like she'd expected.

If she were being honest with herself she'd easily admit that she had feelings for Puck. Ones which were quickly overwhelming her. She'd never expected the scandals that would occur while she was gone, changing everyone who was involved. Honestly, she would never have guessed that having a child would change Puck so drastically. She figured it made sense in some ways; she knew that his father had abandoned him and his sister when they were just young, his sister not even born yet, so she supposed that somewhere inside of him he had a sense of obligation for those he cared about, especially his daughter.

Rachel was so completely caught up in her own thoughts that it wasn't until her phone was into the second verse of 'My Junk' from Spring Awakening (what it's not like she could change _everything_ about herself) that she broke out of her reverie and was able to take in what was going on in real life. Brittany was curled up on her side, hugging a large stuffed turle that Rachel kept on her bed, the sound of Rachel's phone obviously beginning to wake her up.

Grabbing her phone quickly off the nightstand next to her, Rachel flipped it open, trying to ignore the fact that it was far to early for social calls of any kind, "Hello?"

Puck slammed his head into his fist upon hearing Ray's sleepy voice. He'd obviously woken her up and he felt like an idiot for doing it. What kind of person calls other people this early in the morning. Obvioisly other people, meaning not teenaged, single fathers with screaming six month old babies, would be sleeping right now, "Hello…?"

Finally clearing his throat, Puck shifted Beth in his arms, "Yeah Ray? It's me…I mean…um it's Puck."

He felt like a bumbling idiot, and he felt a strange need to check and make sure that his balls were still completely attached when the thought that she sounded cute, and even borderline sexy while she sounded like she was still half asleep.

Rachel sat up quickly in the bed, the covers falling down her body as she heard his frazzled voice and the crying baby in the background, "Puck? Are you okay? Is something wrong with Beth?"

"I don't know, that's the problem. I think she's got a fever and she just won't stop crying, not even if I do the things that normally calm her down. I think she's sick and my mom's doing a double shift and Sarah is staying with a friend, not that she'd be any help anyways. Ray I need help. She's never been sick before, not since she was born and in the hospital that whole time. What do I do?"

While Puck gave his monologue (which was heartbreaking and completely beautiful to Rachel. Listening to his love and devotion for the little girl made her melt inside) Rachel was up and out of bed, quickly changing into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, "Okay Puck, you need to calm down and listen to me. Beth can tell when you're stressed so stay calm and just try to keep her from getting any more worked up than she already is. I'll be there as soon as I can, leave the door unlocked so if you get her calm I won't wake her up by ringing the bell."

Flipping her phone closed, Rachel moved over towards her bed, lightly shaking Brittany, who was still happily passed out in her bed, until the blond girl started to stir.

"Wha-…what's going on?" Brittany squinted as her eyes ajusted to the lights that Rachel had unconsiously turned on while she was finding clothes.

"Britt, Puck needs help. Beth is sick and his mom's not there to help him and he's kind of freaking out. I'm gonna go and help him but you can stay here, just lock up if I'm not back by the time you leave."

"Is Beth going to be alright?" Suddenly Brittany was looking like a small child as she lay curled up and disheveled in Rachel's bed, looking up and her with sleep filled eyes, her worry for the little baby completely evident.

"She'll be find hun, it's probably just a cold or something but Puck's never had to deal with this on his own."

"Okay…can I come see her when I get up? I'll tell her some stories about my imaginary friend Belinda and her purple unicorm!"

Rachel couldn't help but smile at Brittany's excitement, "Yeah sweetie, I'm sure she'd love that. Call me when you're coming over."

After getting the blond girl's nod of understanding Rachel made her way towards the door, grabbing a hoodie and hitting the lights and rushing into her car, driving it towards Puck's house.

Sitting in his living room Puck was running out of ideas on how to calm his baby girl down. Everything thiat usually worked for her was doing nothing and his heart was breaking as his listened to his daughter sobbing. He didn't know what to do and he felt like he was failing her.

When Puck heard Ray letting herself through the front door he felt like he could cry in relief (not that he actually would because he might be a daddy but he was still a badass and don't you forget it).

"Puck?"

Rachel sat down next to the frazzled young parent, one hand automatically brushing over the top of Beth's head while the other unconsciously reached out to give Noah's had a small squeeze. It seemed that that was all it took to encourage him to open up, "I'm a terrible father…"

"Oh Noah no. You're just a new father. No parent knows what they're doing at first. You're gonna make mistakes and things will be hard but eventually you'll get the hang of it. And then, as she gets older you'll keep learning the right way to do things, you'll just learn how to hid your mistakes better."

Rachel's joke was enough to get Puck to crack a smile, though he was still sitting there, wondering what he could do to make his daughter better.

Finally fully taking over Rachel reached out for the sobbing baby girl, "Okay, we've got a sick little princess who needs to get better."

**A/N- Okay, first thing's first, I love my reviews. They fuel my writing and honestly, they make me feel like less of a dork for being a total and complete Gleek (not that that's a bad thing, there just aren't a ton of us who are out and proud that I know). Anyways, I love all of my reviews but one in particular really made me feel great so this chapter is dedicated to .Me-X. **

**Secondly, I know I promised this chapter about a week ago but between a massive case of writers block (which I'm sure you can see in my writing) and an even worse case of Strep throat mixed with a sinus infection mixed with an ear infection I had some trouble with my updating. I know this chapter isn't great but I hope you enjoy it and I'll do my best to get Coyote Ugly out as soon as I can.**

**Em**


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